Page 68 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“Meaning?” Logan asked, releasing the chain.

“My mark,” she said with a shrug as she went back to tracing shapes on his chest. “You’re afraid of what will happen to me if I leave this penthouse.”

He wasn’t afraid.

He was fucking terrified.

CHAPTER 34

“I’m not going to run,” Jill said, only to bite back a sigh when Logan said, “I’m not going to give you a chance, Angel.”

“Believe it or not, I’m not an idiot. I know what’s waiting for me outside this building,” she said, tracing a circle over his chest.

“And what’s that, Angel?” Logan asked as she drew one last circle on his chest before dropping her hand away.

“Things that I’d rather not think about,” Jill said as she thought about all of those things that she’d learned about the time that her father spent in Nichols’ dungeon. He’d been tortured in every way imaginable. It was something that she didn’t like to think about, never mind imagine experiencing first-hand. The difference was that her father was a Pyte and could survive anything and she…wouldn’t.

She also wouldn’t be able to protect the children the way that Logan could and there was no doubt in her mind now that he planned on doing whatever it took to keep them safe.

She just…

She’d never planned on asking her father to change her, prayed that he wouldn’t try, but now that she could potentiallylive forever, she needed to start figuring out what that meant for her.

In order to do that, she needed to figure something out, which meant…

“I’m ready to collect my prize,” Jill said with a heartfelt sigh as though it pained her to do this.

“And what prize would that be?” Logan asked, reaching up to run his fingertips along her jaw.

“The one that I am now owed for proving my theory correct,” Jill said with a nod, making him frown.

“You didn’t prove anything, Angel. You just pretended that you knew what you were talking about with the hopes of getting me to correct you before you wrapped it all up into an asinine theory,” Logan pointed out.

“Sure. We could look at it that way if it makes you feel better about losing,” Jill said with a pitying look that had his eyes narrowing on her.

“I believe that I won this round, Angel,” Logan said, which was sad really.

“And how do you figure that?” Jill asked as she ran her eyes over him one more time, looking for any signs that she was wrong about this.

“Besides the fact that you had to resort to manipulating me to get answers?”

“Besides that,” Jill murmured absently as she went back to running her fingertips over his chest, once again wondering if she was really going to be able to do this.

“That should be enough,” Logan pointed out.

With a solemn nod, Jill said, “You know what? You’re right,” as she turned her head and gestured to her throat. “Be gentle.”

“What are you doing?” came the curious question that had her really wishing that he’d get this over with.

“Taking pity on you,” Jill said, settling her hands on his chest and-

Softly sighed when she felt Logan’s lips press against her throat.

“That’s very generous of you, Angel,” Logan murmured, pressing another kiss against her throat while his hands slid over her thighs. “There’s just one problem with that.”

“And what’s that?” Jill asked, unable to help but moan when she felt his lips slowly kiss a trail up her throat.

“When I said that I wanted another taste,” Logan said, pausing long enough to kiss her chin, “I wasn’t talking about your blood.”

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